Foreign players sacrifice profit for market shares

The Hanoitimes - Manulife Vietnam and Dai-ichi Vietnam have been accepting heavy losses in exchange for market shares, indicating a fierce competition in Vietnam`s life insurance market.

In 2017, Vietnam's life insurance market showed a contrasting picture, in which three major 100% foreign-owned life insurers namely Manulife Vietnam, Dai-ichi Vietnam and Prudential Vietnam saw a slump in profit, while state-controlled Bao Viet Life posted a pre-tax profit of VND1 trillion (US$43.75 million), up 60% year-on-year.

Illustration photo.

Dai-ichi Vietnam in 2017 recorded a pre-tax loss of VND515 billion (US$22.5 million) versus a profit of VND135 billion (US$5.9 million) one year earlier.
Similarly, Manulife Vietnam reported a pre-tax loss of VND1.24 trillion (US$54.25 million) while it made a VND463 billion (US$20.2 million) profit in 2016.
Prudential Vietnam, meanwhile, saw a slump of 60% in its pre-tax profit, going down from VND1.6 trillion (US$70 million) in 2016 to VND645 billion (US$28.2 million) in 2017.
The result was due to those companies' growth in business expenses outpacing their respective growth rate in insurance-related revenues, of which Dai-ichi Vietnam is 65% and 50%, Manulife Vietnam of 82% and 33%, and Prudential Vietnam of 65% and 20%, respectively.
Notably, Bao Viet Life's revenue growth came at 30% in 2017, which is lower than that of both Dai-ichi Vietnam and Manulife Vietnam, indicating a shift in market shares in the life insurance market.
Additionally, Dai-ichi Vietnam's equity in 2017 has increased from VND2.93 trillion (US$128.1 million) to VND5.77 trillion (US$252.4 million), and Manulife Vietnam from VND2.72 trillion (US$119 million) to VND5.63 trillion (US$246.3 million).
Bao Viet Life, meanwhile, maintained its equity at VND3.55 trillion (US$155.3 million).
In spite of the lowest revenue growth among others, Prudential Vietnam is currently the leading life insurer in Vietnam with equity of VND6.23 trillion (US$272.5 million) and total assets worth VND74.1 trillion (US$3.24 billion) in 2017.
Prudential Vietnam's revenue stood at VND26.2 trillion (US$1.14 billion) in 2017, up 43% year-on-year.